Pressure, not diplomacy highlights Vancouver summit on North Korea
Pressure, not diplomacy highlights Vancouver summit on North Korea
This odd summit underscores how impossibly difficult the North Korean standoff has become, writes Thomas Walkom.
By THOMAS WALKOMNational Affairs Columnist
Tues., Jan. 16, 2018
Tuesday’s Vancouver summit on North Korea underscores how impossibly difficult the standoff between Washington and Pyongyang has become.
The summit, co-hosted by Canada and the U.S., was billed as an attempt to reinject diplomacy into a situation that is becoming increasingly dangerous.
But in opening remarks by key foreign ministers from the 20 countries invited to Vancouver to deal with the crisis over North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons, there was little talk of diplomacy.
In fact, both U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono lauded countries that have broken off diplomatic relations with the North, urging more to do the same.
Kono said it was “naïve” to read too much into the North’s sudden decision to reopen talks with South Korea. Pyongyang, he said, was merely trying to drive a wedge between South Korea and its allies.
Even South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, who lauded her country’s talks with the North as “positive,” insisted that unrelenting pressure on Pyongyang must continue.
And that’s what this odd summit was about — pressure.
I say odd because the guest list made little practical sense. Belgium and Denmark were invited but not China and Russia — both of which have leverage over North Korea.
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/star-columnists/2018/01/16/pressure-not-diplomacy-highlights-vancouver-summit-on-north-korea.html
kcontents
.
